Prime Cuts / Prime Cuts / Prime Cuts

A collection of some of my several VGM covers I've worked on since 2021, covering mostly popular video games and songs in instrumental arrangements. Mostly featuring rock and metal styles, but adding a wide array of influences like jazz, folk, symphonic, country, among others.

Most of this material was arranged and recorded originally for competing in Dwelling of Duels, with a few tracks being done by other communities like Pixel Mixers and GameGrooves.


All tracks arranged, sequenced and mastered by TheManPF, all tracks mixed by TheManPF except track 7 mixed by evilsonic, lyrics by TheManPF (tracks 2 and 8)

Album artwork by Marawis

Performed by:

TheManPF - electric guitar (all tracks), classical guitar (tracks 1, 5 and 6), add. keyboards (track 2 and 3), lead vocals (track 2), choir vocals (tracks 8 and 10)
Zach Chapman - bass (all tracks), choir vocals (track 10)
Ian Martyn - keyboards (tracks 4 and 7), lead vocals (track 7), low whistle, bouzouki and add. percussion (tracks 6 and 8), mandolin, irish tenor banjo and melodica (track 6), choir vocals (track 8)
Jay "Ronin Op F" Kim - violin (tracks 7, 8 and 10), choir vocals (track 8)
Joe Newman - keyboards (track 2), alto sax, baritone sax, melodica and backing vocals (track 7)
evilsonic - acoustic guitar (tracks 7 and 8), slide guitar (track 7), mandolin (track 8)
Gregory "Gamer of the Winds" Orosz - flute and alto sax (track 1)
Ashanti "DakotaCityRag" Mills - tenor sax (track 1)
Bao "Chocobao" Vuong - keyboards (track 1)
Daniel Romberger - theremin (track 4)
Andromeda - choir vocals (track 8)
atomic - baritone ukelele (track 8)
Chris "angrypolarbear" Doughty - keyboards and choir vocals (track 10)
Jake Helland - acoustic guitar and classical guitar (track 10)


-Track 1-
My cover letter. TheManPF in his prime. If you want to experience what I'm about in a single song, this is it. Covering one of VGM's most beloved classics, in every way I possibly can, throwing every influence I have, in a love letter to the videogame music community, while also throwing around other 20 VGM cameos, can you spot them all?

Originally released in April 2023 through Dwelling of Duels, in a free themed competition where it earned 6th place out of 40 total tracks.

Source: "Dr. Wily's Castle 1" from Mega Man 2 (1988)
Originally composed by Takashi Tateishi
Arrangement, sequencing, mix, master, all guitars by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman
Tenor sax by Ashanti "DakotaCityRag" Mills
Alto sax and flute by Gregory "Gamer of the Winds" Orosz
Keyboards by Bao "Chocobao" Vuong

-Track 2-
Samus is kicking back with a drink in a space bar while traveling in a lounge inside Galaxy Federation Space Cruise, she puts a coin in a Jukebox, and this is the first thing that plays.

Originally released in February 2022 through Dwelling of Duels, in a competition themed around Metroid games, where it earned 3rd place out of 25 total tracks.

Sources: "Title" and "Menu Select" from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004)
Originally composed by Kenji Yamamoto
Arrangement, lyrics, sequencing, mix, master, guitars, vocals and add. keyboards by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman
Lead keyboards by Joe Newman

-Track 3-
One of the most impactful scenes from this game, after a dire situation, the Imp princess rises up and becomes determined to help the fateful hero save the world.

Originally released in June 2021 through Dwelling of Duels, in a competition themed around VGLeadSheets, where it earned 4th place out of 18 total tracks.

Source: "Midna's Lament" from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)
Originally composed by Toru Minegishi
Arrangement, sequencing, mix, master and guitars by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman

-Track 4-
One of my favorite tracks from this game, we hear Cuphead and Mugman battle the wacky ghosts in a frantic, dark, bouncy and reggeaton-esque rendition of the Train of the Dead's theme.

Originally released in January 2023 through Pixel Mixers, track 6 from the album The Great Tale of the Little Ones Vol. 3.

Source: "Railroad Wrath" from Cuphead (2017)
Originally composed by Kristofer Maddigan
Arrangement, sequencing, mix, master and guitars by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman
Keyboards by Ian Martyn
Theremin by Daniel Romberger

-Track 5-
I was asked to record an arrangement of Zinnia's theme (also known as Higana in Japan, from the Equinox flower) 3 days before deadline, and this is what I came up with. A simpler song where I can showcase my modest guitar skills.

Originally arranged and recorded for a livestream invitation, then subsequently uploaded to Youtube and submitted to Dwelling of Duels as an alternate entry in April 2022.

Source: "The Heirs to Eternity" from Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (2014)
Originally composed by Shota Kageyama
Arrangement, sequencing, mix, master and guitars by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman

-Track 6-
The mighty warrior ZOTE gets combined with the heroes of this track ZACH and IAN into the all-powerful ZYAN, in a showcase of this fantastic theme from Hollow Knight in a more folksy, celtic kind of way.

Originally released in November 2021 through Dwelling of Duels, in a competition themed around Crowdfunded games, where it earned 8th place out of 22 total tracks.

Source: "Truth, Beauty and Hatred" from Hollow Knight: Hidden Dreams (2017)
Originally composed by Christopher Larkin
Arrangement, sequencing, mix, master, electric guitar and classical guitar by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman
Add. percussion, bouzouki, irish tenor banjo, melodica, low whistle and mandolin by Ian Martyn

-Track 7-
With the help of the wildest cowboys in the west, we created the group "Insane Cup Posse", to honor the tale of Esther Winchester, with the energy turned up to 12.

Originally released in June 2023 through Dwelling of Duels, in a competition themed around Wild West themes, where it earned 1st place out of 25 total tracks.

Source: "High-Noon Hoopla" from Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course (2022)
Originally composed by Kristofer Maddigan
Arrangement, sequencing, master and electric guitar by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman
Mix, acoustic guitar and slide guitar by Mike "evilsonic" Doyle
Violin by Jay "Ronin Op F" Kim
Vocals (yodeling) and keyboards by Ian Martyn
Alto sax, baritone sax, melodica and backing vocals (yodeling) by Joe Newman

-Track 8-
In my second band team-up, all-folk/celtic extraordinaires Na Daoine Laghairt briefly put me on their shoulders to channel out the highs of this magnificent soundtrack from Team Ico.

Originally released in May 2023 through Dwelling of Duels, in a competition themed around Playstation 2 games, where it earned 7th place out of 23 total tracks.

Sources: "Prologue ~To the Ancient Land~", "The Farthest Land", "Demise of the Ritual" and "The End of the Battle" from Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
Originally composed by Kow Otani
Arrangement, lyrics, sequencing, mix, master, electric guitar and choir vocals by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman
Band: Na Daoine Laghairt
Acoustic guitar and mandolin by Mike "evilsonic" Doyle
Violin and choir vocals by Jay "Ronin Op F" Kim
Add. percussion, bouzouki, low whistle and choir vocals by Ian Martyn
Baritone ukelele by atomic
Choir vocals by Andromeda

-Track 9-
A journey taken through two contrasting dungeons from A Link to the Past, where we can hear the battling clashes of light and dark forces.

Originally arranged and recorded for GameGrooves' "Quick Fire Cover Challenge" with a theme surrounding Zelda dungeon themes.

Sources: "Sanctuary Dungeon" and "Dark World Dungeon" from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991)
Originally composed by Koji Kondo
Arrangement, sequencing, mix, master and guitars by TheManPF
Bass by Zach Chapman

-Track 10-
For the final showdown, it can only end in one way, in a last match-up to the death at the edge of the cosmos, with the support of the magnificent trio of Dog Food for Bananas.

Originally released in December 2024 through Dwelling of Duels, in a competition themed around Super Smash Bros. games, where it earned 2nd place out of 28 total tracks.

Source: "Final Destination" from Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
Originally composed by Takahiro Nishi and Nobuo Uematsu
Arrangement, sequencing, mix, master, electric guitar and choir vocals by TheManPF
Bass and choir vocals by Zach Chapman
Keyboards and choir vocals by Chris "angrypolarbear" Doughty
Violin by Jay "Ronin Op F" Kim
Acoustic guitar and classical guitar by Jake Helland